Gaining
and maintaining lean muscle mass when going on a low-carb diet
may sound easy, but it’s risky. When you deprive your body
of carbs, insulin levels decline and the body relies on fat for
fuel, which is good. The drawback is that the body, when faced
with limited glycogen (carb intake), will also turn to its protein
stores for fuel. The key is to reduce carbs, burn fat, and maintain
protein supplies. Too many carb’s in a diet, which results
in too many calories, can add excessive fat stores. When you get
fat, your body builds muscle more slowly than when you stay lean,
although you do need to eat to grow.
Low-carb
diets deplete muscle-glycogen levels to trigger the body to rely
on fat for fuel. High-intensity aerobics further depletes glycogen
levels to burn away more unwanted fat. For best results, do cardio
before you eat (when glycogen levels are lowest). Stay on a low-carb
diet for two weeks. Then on the 15th day, increase carb consumption
to two or three grams per pound of bodyweight and decrease protein
to one gram per pound of bodyweight. You can follow a low-carb
diet for eight or nine weeks, as long as you take a break from
it for one day every two weeks to give your body a mental and
physical relief.
Shown
below are diets that could be used by either male or female, who
are looking to
gain lean muscle mass. Substitutions of certain foods are acceptable,
if they're in the same food group and roughly the same categorized
gram and caloric count.
For
those weighing 170lbs or more
(55-75 grams of carb’s daily, with 50% being after
your training session)
